Valeria O'Dinary
by IRiSEaGLes
Summary: Written for The Houses Competition. Valeria is as ordinary as they come. She is not someone that is special in any way. Then she is paired against the famous Ginny Weasley in a duel.


Valeria O'Flaherty was nothing special. Her family tree is full of witches and wizards who are nothing special either. Only one member of her family ever did anything remotely recognizable, he wrote a history book, and that was over a century ago. A history book; and not one that even the dry Professor Binns references. She was nicknamed Valeria O'Dinary, as was tradition in her mediocre family. So why should she be something overly special?

She was a Ravenclaw, not a gregarious Gryffindor, a humble happy Hufflepuff, or a snobby Slytherin. Even in Ravenclaw she was 'average', never one to receive the highest marks, heck there were times that the knocker on Ravenclaw tower didn't allow her admittance because she could not understand the question the blasted bird asked. She would be caught, regularly, yelling at the blasted knocker "What makes you think I understand?" only to have a little first year come up behind her and answer the riddle straight away.

Her hair was not as recognizable as a certain 'Gryffindor Princess' of the Golden Trio that was a year ahead of her in school, but it was not something luxurious either. It was curly brown, a plain brown that lacked highlights or lowlights and just looked like a tangled mess of dried kelp from the bottom of the Black Lake or a nearly extinguished puff of smoke when piled away from her face. Her eyes, well they were nothing impressive either, but she called the color 'xanadu' after reading in some muggle text the description of the blah color, because it made her sound unique in some way. They were not golden, or emerald, or even a bright blue; they were a motley greyish green color that was as unremarkable as she. Her wand was no special wood, a plain spruce had given it's limb to create it, but unusually long for someone of her unremarkable height of five foot three inches, at fourteen inches long. Her face was not a unique shape, her nose just straight and sized right break up the slight roundness of it. Her eyes weren't bulgy, thank Merlin, nor were they the seductive almond shape that many witches from esteemed backgrounds carry. Actually her eyes were a little close together and her eyebrows were so blonde they needed a great deal of penciling in just to be existent.

When she was asked to pair up for projects, many times she was left alone and it came down to a benevolent professor to assign her a partner. Today was no different when her Defense Against the Dark Arts class was asked to pair up according to opposite house for a practical. They would be facing the Gryffindors, many of them had been taught personally by Harry Potter, the savior of the wizarding world, and Hermione Granger, the all knowing princess of the house.

Unfairly to her, she was paired up with Ginny Weasley, after the professor had to step in and assign the uneven pair. Ginny was a Weasley, the girlfriend of the Boy Who Lived, and known for hexes of her own creation. She also was the youngest child, and only girl, of seven brothers including the misfit twins that were always known for creating mischief of their own. She was a member of Dumbledore's Army, in their fourth year going against Death Eaters in the Ministry of Magic. And finally she was in the Battle of Hogwarts the year prior, holding her own.

Valeria sighed. She had no chance against this Gryffindor. She would be lucky to make it to the hospital wing and not get a direct pass to Saint Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies.

Valeria's xanadu colored eyes met Ginny Weasley's deep brown, and there was a spark of understanding between the two witches. Ginny was not going to go easy on the Ravenclaw, as if she ever went easy on anyone. This may be a controlled exercise but it was meant to teach the witches and wizards in the class what a real battle entailed; and Ginny had experience in battle so this was easy for her.

Valeria shuddered now as a wave of panic washed over her xanadu eyes. Hopefully this professor will have already alerted the school medi-witch to be on standby, but she truly doubted to capacity of this professor since she fled to the continent before any of the fighting of the last year took place. If Valeria was truthful with herself, she would believe the redheaded Gryffindor before her would be a better professor than the old crone that liked the sound of her own voice as she lectured from an ornate gold and amaranth velvet seat behind her massive ebony desk.

Sparks flew around the room as the Ravenclaws battled the Gryffindors, though Valeria and Ginny were engaged in only a stare down. The room was alight in sound and fury, laughter and cries, colors of the rainbow spinning around them, and an electrical sensation that only magic creates surging through everyone.

She heard the ticking of the clock, the only thing between the two witches that signified that time did not stand still. "Well, on with it. I don't feel like standing here all day. I can only assume that I have an appointment with a Saint Mungo's healer in my immediate future."

The redhead looked bewildered. "What?"

"I expect to be beyond the capacity of the school nurse by the conclusion of the class. So on with it. I just ask that you owl my family and let them know my status."

The redhead witch chuckled as she shook her head, "That is bloody mental there. I will not be sending you to the hospital wing, nor Saint Mungo's. Now if you would like a real lesson, let's begin with a protection charm."

They practiced the charm for much of the class, Ginny being a much better instructor than the one that the school provided.

Exasperated at her continued failures even at the hand of a proficient instructor, Valeria was ready to give in, "What make you think I understand? I am not the typical Ravenclaw, I work and work and never seem to gain any true knowledge that will allow me to get even the most mundane spell to work. I cannot seem to get anything right. Just give me your best and I will see in you in the hospital wing."

Ginny sighed and prepared to send her infamous bat bogey hex to her partner of the day.

In its stead something came, unbeknownst to either witch, something that will be spoken of for years in the whispers of those in the room.

Ginny Weasley went down.

She went down in a heap of red hair just before she was able to fire off her virtually harmless hex. She went down as a spell shot out from Valeria's wand in a swirl of neon royal purple. She went down in an undignified manner - a low thud that awoke the professor from her stupor.

The redhead finally arose three days following, and in a secured room at Saint Mungo's.

The Ravenclaw had been shocked, she had never uttered a word nor flicked her wand. The school conducted their own investigation upon the injury to the young Gryffindor heroine. The hospital needed to know what spell hit Ginny Weasley, and the girl's family was demanding answers.

The spell was unknown, some say that Valeria created on her own. The effect it had on her partner was intense, she was in pain with each breath the redhead heroine took. Some say the spell was something dark, that the Ravenclaw girl had been dabbling in the dark arts, but those who knew her and the professors knew that it was not the case.

Valeria's mind just found a way to protect herself, nonverbally and without any movement of her wand nor even pointed truly in the direction of the antagonist, rather in the vaguest of directions.

The Headmistress of the school was grateful that the young girl did not know of this the year prior, because it could have turned the tide of the war. The hospital wished for more information so they could treat the victim of the spell. The Ministry of Magic was concerned that the young witch, if in such a controlled situation could develop such a devastating spell with no prior knowledge or skill, would be dangerous in the future.

Through all this Valeria O'Fierce as she was now nicknamed by the Slytherin house, became a name whispered about; how someone so ordinary could bring down such a giant in their world. Muggles relayed the story of David and Goliath from the Bible, how a young boy was able to take down a giant with a slingshot, and equated the story of that to Valeria's. She was equated to Neville Longbottom, someone who was unlikely to be of any real importance in a battle, but became victorious in the end.

When Ginny arrived back at the castle, strutting into the Great Hall alongside two members of the Golden Trio: her brother and her boyfriend, she proceeded to walk right up to the Ravenclaw that she had last seen before her extended holiday in the hospital.

"Valeria," Ginny held out her hand, "I wanted to congratulate you. You did well. Really well." The two boys flanking the girl nodded in agreement.

"You mean, there's no hard feelings?" the Ravenclaw was perplexed.

"Of course not," the heroine chuckled. "I haven't been so pampered by everyone in my family since our second year. Now are you going to shake my hand or is it just going to float here for eternity?"

Valeria stood up, grasping the other girl's hand, and pulling her into a hug. Never has she felt so self assured and special as that moment.

* * *

Author's Notes:

House: Slytherin  
Year: 5  
Theme: Underdog  
Prompt: Speech 2: What makes you think I understand?  
Color: Xanadu  
Word Count: 1645


End file.
